The importance of risk management in a corporate travel program can’t be overstated and requires significant effort. It’s crucial to perform a detailed assessment of travel risks before one of your employees or representatives goes on corporate travel.
As a travel manager, finance manager, or CFO, you can lessen some of the potential travel risks for your employee and help your employee feel secure that you and the company are providing them with essential protections.
Here are four key components of travel risk management.
Identifying the Risks
Travel risk management involves foreseeing, avoiding, and responding to risks that business travellers can encounter while travelling.
The first crucial step is to identify all potential risks associated with corporate travel. Here are the top examples of how to identify travel risks for business travel.
Traveller’s Health
To identify whether or not the traveller is capable or healthy enough to conduct business travel, your travel program should include verification and confirmation of the traveller's health status before travelling.
This includes confirming their physical, mental, and overall health conditions to determine all possible risks that could endanger them during travel and even endanger other people, such as possessing an infectious disease.
Traveller’s Gender
In business travel, the gender of the traveller can pose risks to them, especially when travelling alone. According to Business Insider, there are some nations where female travellers are thought to face greater risks.
Depending on the travel location, it's important to consider the traveller’s gender to minimise risk and ensure they’re as safe as possible.
Transport Type
Vehicle accidents are one of the biggest dangers for any travellers in a foreign nation. Your travel program needs to prioritise safe transport types for the traveller.
Travel Route
Most risks, including robberies, kidnappings, and violent opportunistic crimes happen along particular routes in every country. Every city has well-known areas and roads with high crime rates.
It’s crucial that your travel risk management includes researching the safest routes for your travellers so they can avoid these potential hazards.
Weather
Inclement weather has the potential to harm the traveller or derail the trip's intended purpose. Check the news or weather forecasts in the location of the business trip and the date — some areas have consistently bad weather during certain times of the year.
Natural Disasters
Similar to weather, natural disasters can be a huge risk. Avoid sending your employees to areas that have recently experienced or are currently dealing with a natural disaster situation.
Political Stability
The political stability of your travel destination can pose a significant risk. There are several nations or regions where political instability can lead to terrorism, rioting, and violent protests.
Your traveller can become caught in the situation and experience danger or harm. Because of the political concerns that can impact the operations of many businesses, it’s also possible that your traveller could get stranded.
Destination’s Health (And Health Care System)
The healthcare system of a destination is crucial to consider for any business trip. Even though we can foresee and reduce potential risks while travelling, accidents can still occur.
In case an unforeseen incident hurts your traveller, the country's health care system should be easily accessible and of high calibre. Part of your travel risk management should be making sure the location of the business trip has a solid health care system and is accessible to travellers.
Preparing the Traveller
A well-prepared traveller can make a big difference in your ability to minimise travel risk. Along with preparing your traveller to accomplish their business travel objectives, it's crucial to also prepare them for any risks that can arise while they are travelling.
One of the finest ways to enhance readiness is through security and safety training that emphasises prevention; it’s simpler to avoid a dangerous situation than to resolve it.
Training and preparing the traveller can improve situational awareness and understanding of how to handle various dangers, such as natural catastrophes, political unrest, and terrorism.
With adequate training, your traveller can learn how to respond to common dangers and stay as secure as possible while on a business trip. The right education and training can save a traveller's life in a life-threatening situation.
Tracking the Traveller
One of the best ways to increase risk management and guarantee your traveller's safety is tracking them. Today, several digital solutions and tools enable travel managers to track their travellers to make sure they are performing what is expected of them and ultimately, to confirm that they are safe.
Tools and software that can track travellers use Global distribution systems, or GDS, which are the platforms that support almost all airline, hotel, and auto rental reservation systems.
This will allow you and the travel managers to get information on your traveller’s itineraries, hotel booking, and car rentals, and allows the traveller to update you with their current status.
Make sure that your employee understands the reasons for being tracked and is comfortable with the situation. It is a good idea to have them sign waivers as well.
Be Ready To Respond in Case of Emergency
The ability of your business to respond in an emergency is the final component of a successful approach to managing travel risk.
Despite our greatest efforts to reduce risk while travelling, emergencies can still happen. As a result, your travel program should include an action plan for when an emergency arises.
Responding in case of an emergency may entail guiding your employee to the closest hospital, calling an ambulance, sending backup, and more.
Travel tracking is a fantastic tool, but once you’ve discovered that your traveller is having an emergency, you should be able to respond appropriately.
Bottom Line
Every business trip requires careful consideration of the travel risk. It not only ensures the safety of your traveller but also the achievement of the company's objectives during that business trip.
Travellers can be assured of a safe journey by taking into account all potential dangers and taking action to mitigate them.
Travellers will feel secure and confident if they know that they are being watched over and have someone to rely on in case of emergencies. Choose a dependable and trustworthy travel management solution that will allow you to keep an eye on your travellers and respond appropriately in an emergency.
